David Cunliffe needs to learn how to use Google

Environment Minister Amy Adams says David Cunliffe’s so-called secret document has been publicly-available for more than two years.

“David Cunliffe’s shameless scaremongering is ill-informed and smacks of someone desperate for attention.

“The report he refers to has been publicly-available for more than two years. I would have thought as a former ICT Minister and Labour’s current ICT spokesman, he would be able to navigate the internet.

“The report from an independent United States-based research organisation relates specifically to reported incidents in the Gulf of Mexico between 1996 and 2010.

“In the main, reported incidents refer to equipment failure, falls, or even property damage.

“The Government has never hidden the fact that the risk of an oil spill exists, but it is very low.

“The best international evidence tells us that on average, 2.5 loss of control events happen per 1000 wells – or a 0.25 per cent chance.

“That is extremely low, and most of these events are minor and the environmental impacts are contained.

“David Cunliffe is trying to create a distraction from Labour’s woeful environmental credentials. Under his government, 36 wells were drilled in the EEZ between 1999 and 2008 with no legislation in place to protect the environment.

“The ridiculous thing about David Cunliffe’s argument is that the EEZ Act introduced by this Government actually replaces a non-existent environmental regulatory regime for drilling in the EEZ.

“David Cunliffe’s regime only required the Minister for Energy and Resource to sign a permit and required no formal environmental assessment at all.

“This Government has introduced a better regime for protecting our oceans than has ever previously been in place.”